“Waiting is the hardest part”

Posted by Thom on Saturday, February 9, 2008 in Application Process, Early Decision.

Was on the road this week on Vandy business to South Carolina . . .ok, it was a conference in Hilton Head . . . you know, Harbortown, lots of golf courses, retirees . . . beach. Rough gig, I know. Traveling is a solitary act, cavernous airports, winding and swift moving streams of people, and me with headphones on. Tom Petty’s Hard Promises album, and “The Waiting” on shuffle. The lyrics are brimming with optimism tempered with patience:

“You take it on faith, you take it to the heart /
The waiting is the hardest part”

Petty was referring to waiting on your dreams to come true and wondering if they ever will in his hit single. I’ve been in admissions a couple years shy of a decade and I’m still trying to figure it all out, but one thing I do know is that what keeps me in this job is knowing that I can play a role in helping people bring their aspirations out of the vagueness of their dreams and see it start to unfold in reality. It is that moment when all the things you said you were going to do start to become the things you’re doing, and in admissions, I get box seats to watching young adults burst into that process.

I know you’re waiting to hear from us, and it’s probably tough. Believe me, we can’t wait for April either. Reading is slow because you give us a lot to read and consider with each of your applications, and we take that seriously. It’s coming up soon though, Regular Decision committee will start up in a couple of weeks. To update you all, some very, very small buds are starting to show up on the timekeeping shrub outside our office (see my previous post if you’re clueless on that one). The waiting will soon be over.

EDII Update

Watch out for EDII mailing day coming up on Wednesday of next week (2/13). We’ll post some info then about it all here on the blog. See you then.